The Thomas Damon Memorial Scholarship Tournament is a competition for youth bowlers hosted by Virginia Beach Youth Bowling, Inc., at Pinboy's at the Beach in Virginia Beach VA, June 9th thru 11th 2023. This event will be open to U8/U10/U12/U15/U18/U20, male and female bowlers. We have been given a $12,000 donation to supplement the prize fund. Last year we were able to award almost $30,000 in Advancements and Scholarship. Our goal is to help support all youth bowling activities and endeavors in the region. Rules and registration information is below. If you have any questions feel free to contact us.

Bowlers will bowl 5 games, moving to a different pair after each game. Bowlers may follow each other immediately, in order, on the alternate lane. One lane courtesy will be observed.

2023 VBYBI SCHOLARSHIP TOURNAMENT RULES

The 4th Annual Thomas Damon Memorial Tournament

DATES:  June 9-11, 2023

Maximum of 90 entries per squad. Total entries maximum of 270 bowlers.

1.  This is a USBC certified tournament. Bowlers will bowl on Sport compliant conditions and this event will be Scratch with an entry fee of $50.

2.  An optional Handicap division will be offered at an additional cost of $10 for bowlers who wish to participate in this supplemental prize fund. Handicap will be calculated at 100% of 210. If the bowler has a SPORT average on Bowl.com, this will be used for handicap determination. Other averages will be converted to SPORT per USBC chart. The highest average on Bowl.com or on the provided average sheets will be used. If a bowler does not have an average on Bowl.com, a verifiable average from his/her current league with a minimum of 21 games will be used and converted.

3.  All Squads will bowl on fresh “Sport” conditions. Bowler must email the tournament director the most recent average sheet reflecting 21 or more games. USBC tournament rules and regulations will govern this tournament.

4.  All bowlers must hold a 2022-2023 USBC sanction card or will be required to purchase a $4 youth standard sanction card. U20 will be required to purchase a $13 adult sanction card. Bowlers may enter the scholarship tournament only or both scholarship tournament and Junior Gold Qualifier. A bowler cannot enter the Junior Gold Qualifier ONLY.

5. ****Due to this Junior Gold Qualifier being an event for NEXT SUMMER 2024, bowlers who choose to enter the Junior Gold Qualifier will be required to pay for a 2023-2024 Junior Gold Membership of $30 (U18/U15) or $10 (U12) prior to bowling the qualifying squad. ALL JUNIOR GOLD MEMBERSHIPS MUST BE PAID ONLINE AT https://bowl.com/youthprocessing/

6.  All tournament staff will be “Safe Sport” compliant per USBC guidance.

7.  Prize Fund:

a.  Scholarships will be paid with a minimum ratio of 1:6 based on participation with additional funds being provided by VBYBI at the Tournament Director’s discretion.

b. The optional Handicap prize fund will also be paid with a minimum ratio of 1:6 based on participation in the optional division.

c. Virginia Beach Youth Bowling, Inc., will offer additional scholarships, above and beyond the collected prize fund from entry fees.

d. All funds from collected “late fees/walk-ins” will be added to the prize fund.

e. Scholarship funds will be sent to USBC SMART via Acct# 9942. Prize funds collected from entries will be returned 100%.

8.  Format/Lane Conditions:

a. Each squad will be bowled on freshly oiled sport conditions. Qualifying on Saturday will be bowled on the same pattern, for consistency across squads. Sport patterns will not be released until the end of competition, for fairness to all competitors.

b.  Qualifying Squads -Bowlers will bowl five (5) games. Bowlers will move after each game to a different assigned lane. Upon the completion of all three squads on Saturday, the Top 8 in each of 12 divisions will advance to Sunday’s Bracket.

c.  The optional handicap division will be only apply to Saturday’s scores. Bowlers may earn awards for each squad bowled.

d.  ONLY SCRATCH SCORES WILL COUNT TOWARDS ADVANCEMENT TO THE DOUBLE ELIMINATION BRACKET.

e.  Double Elimination Bracket  - Any bowler with multiple Top 8 finishes on Saturday, will take the highest finish for bracket seeding on Sunday. Warm up lanes will be provided, if available, during bracket play.

-         Each match will be 1 game – winner determined by total pin fall.

-         The Final match of the bracket between the #1 seed in the winners’ bracket and the #1 seed of the losers’ bracket will be 1 game. If the #1 seed of the winners’ bracket loses the game, a second game will be bowled to ensure one of the bowlers has 2 losses.

-         *In the event of a tie during match play bracket rounds, then a 9^th and 10^th frame roll off will determine the winner. This will continue until a winner is determined.

9.  Ball Registration Card:

a. Bowlers will be limited to 6 bowling balls for the entire weekend and will be required to complete a ball registration card prior to the start of competition on Saturday.   The last 4 digits of each serial number must be provided.

b. Bowlers should be prepared for random ball card checks throughout the tournament.

c. If the tournament staff finds a bowler in violation of this rule and is using an unregistered bowling ball, this will result in immediate disqualification with no ability to re-enter and forfeiture of any entry fees and prizes earned.

10.  Surface adjustments and Practice:

a. Surface adjustments can be made up until the first ball of scoring is thrown.  15 minutes of practice will be provided prior to each squad on Saturday and prior to match play on Sunday. At the completion of practice all abrasives, abralon pads, cleaners, etc., must be removed from the bowler’s area and stored in their bowling bags.

b. During the Match play rounds on Sunday, bowlers can make surface adjustments up until competition and scoring starts. Additional adjustments can be made ONLY in between separate bracket rounds, not during the game in each round. 

c. If the tournament staff finds a bowler to be in violation of this rule, the bowling ball will be removed from play and zero for 1 frame immediately following the violation. The illegal bowling ball will be returned at the end of the squad.

11.  Prize Fund: VBYBI guarantees a Prize Fund of at least $10,000. All prizes will be paid to the bowlers via SMART #9942.

12.  Side Pots: Any prizes earned from brackets, high game pots, and the eliminator will be deposited into the winners’ smart accounts.

13.  On-site fundraising: These funds will be used at the Tournament director’s discretion to fund additional scholarships. Potential additional scholarships include, but are not limited to:

a. High 15 game total, if three (3) squads are bowled on Saturday.

b. Scholarship for 300 games bowled during the entire tournament weekend.

c. Randomly drawn: each entrant will receive 1 ticket for scholarships to be pulled randomly throughout the tournament

d. High Game and/or High Series for bowlers in each division who do not make match play.

14.  Dress code – participants are required to adhere to the same attire as at the Junior Gold Championships. See the Competitor’s Guide for Junior Gold for full verbiage.

a. Girls may wear: Jerseys and collared shirts with skirts, skorts, golf shorts or slacks of appropriate length. Any attire considered to be outside of the dress code, will be questioned and the bowler will have to change clothes to participate.

b. Boys may wear: Jerseys and collared shirts and pants must be dress slacks or khaki pants. 

c. Regardless of sex, no jeans, sweat clothes, spandex, leggings or t-shirts will be permitted.

15.  Bowlers must check in at least thirty (30) minutes prior to the squad start time.

16.  Each participant is responsible for recording his/her scores on the score sheet provided. Bowlers must sign their official score cards.

17.  Only bowlers participating in this tournament and tournament staff will be allowed in the playing area during tournament play. Coaches, parents and spectators must stay in the spectator area.

18.  Any actions determined to be inconsiderate of fellow participants and or bowling center property will NOT be tolerated. The tournament director will make the determination and may remove a bowler from the competition if needed. If this occurs, no entry fees will be refunded or prizes awarded.

19.  Any violation of these rules could result in suspensions and or disqualification from further participation in this tournament and/or USBC.

20.  Junior Gold Qualifier:

a. Each squad on Saturday will constitute its own Qualifying event.

b. Advancement Ratio is 1:4 and the greatest fraction thereof and EARP as necessary.

c. Bowlers may pay to re-enter subsequent squads to qualify, as necessary. Re-entering bowlers must also pay the cost to re-enter the scholarship tournament also.

d. Participants will pay an additional fee determined by division for entry into the 2022-2023 Junior Gold Qualifier aspect of the tournament.

• U18 = $50 per bowler
• U15 = $37.50 per bowler
• U12 = $25 per bowler

e. Any shortages in the advancer budget will be paid from the Edwin Walters Memorial Scholarship Fund.

f. Only advancements will be earned in this aspect of the event. In the event of overage in prize fund occurs, overages will be awarded via SMART #9942.

21.  Divisions: 

a. U20 Boys/Girls/Merged: Qualifying will be on a 1:4 advancement ratio utilizing the greatest fraction thereof and EARP as necessary. Per USBC U20 bowlers cannot be combined with younger divisions. If there is less than 4 of either sex, males and females will be merged into a singular U20 division.      As of May 2023, U20 will no longer be offered as part of the Junior Gold Championships. You can read more about the changes here: https://bowl.com/news/u20-division-to-shift-outside-of-junior-gold-championships-in-2024

b. U18/U15/ Boys/Girls: Qualifying will be on a 1:4 advancement ratio utilizing the greatest fraction thereof and EARP as necessary. If there are less than 4 bowlers of either sex, divisions will be merged by age and/or sex to maximize advancement.

c.  U12 Boys and Girls: Qualifying will be on a 1:4 advancement ratio utilizing the greatest fraction thereof and EARP as necessary. If there are less than 4 bowlers of either sex, divisions will be merged by age and/or sex to maximize advancement.

d. In the event of a tie for the last qualifying spot, the bowler with the higher 5^th game of the set will earn the Junior Gold Spot.

e. All advancement winners will be asked to sign an advancement acceptance form. This form states that winners will give adequate notice to the tournament officials, if the bowler cannot attend the Junior Gold Championships in Indianapolis, IN.

•  ***If the bowler neglects to give notice, a substitution could not be placed and the spot goes un-used the bowler/bowler’s parent(s) agree to re-pay the scholarship fund.